Are brands and influencers both in it for the long haul with their partnerships? Or are they not seeing eye-to-eye?

In our 2022 Holiday Report, we asked both brands and influencers what they’re looking for from the opposite party.

• When asked what they’d like to see from brands for holiday campaigns, influencers’ #1 response was long-term partnerships (79%), competitive compensation (78%), more creative freedom (66%), and more flexibility (37%).
• Meanwhile, the majority of brands said they were looking for creative input (53%), long-term partnerships (47%), competitive rates (28%), and more flexibility from influencers (24%).

While it seems like influencers want to champion long-term partnerships, we’re not seeing the same prioritization from brands.

Why are long-term ambassador partnerships valuable?

At Fohr, we believe that successful ambassador marketing needs real brand love or a story. In other words, the influencers promoting a product 1. actually use it 2. and love it, or have a good story to tell and give an honest review.

One of the 10 Rules of Fohr’s Ambassador Marketing Mindset is that we don’t do campaigns that are a single post. Here’s why.

One of the marketing industry’s adages, the “Rule of 7,” says a consumer needs to ‘hear’ your brand message at least seven times before they take action.

The brand campaigns where we have seen real conversation, conversion, and success are those where the product or brand becomes a part of the influencer's everyday life. With enough time and ample use, brand love comes naturally, allowing the influencer to weave their personal story and brand message over several posts.

Not only is this rule about pushing products, but ambassador marketing is a human-to-human business. Single post campaigns don’t allow brands to build relationships and long-term partnerships with their ambassadors.

Jessica Morrobel, featured in our 2022 Influencer Drops, had this to say about long-term partnerships:

Working on long-term partnerships allows me to grasp the brand’s tone, voice, and style — offering ideas that the brand and its audience will love. Plus, I’m able to build genuine relationships with the brand, permitting me to develop more original content for my audiences.— Jessica Morrobel, @travelingwithjessica

Long-term ambassador partnerships are beneficial in a multitude of ways:

• It’s more cost-efficient, as the influencer can optimize over a more extended period to discover what works and what doesn’t
• At Fohr, a longer-term campaign contract means we can optimize results and retarget audiences via multiple posts
• Long-term ambassadorships breed more authentic storytelling and increase positive audience sentiment
• They help bridge the authenticity gap, thus building trust (the holy grail for influencer marketing campaigns).

We surveyed 400+ brands and influencers for this year’s 2022 Holiday Report. You can download your copy here.